ראש השנה · Rosh Hashanah

About Masechta Rosh Hashanah · מסכת ראש השנה

Rosh Hashanah opens with the four new years of the Jewish calendar - the first of Nisan for kings and the festivals, the first of Elul for ma'aser of animals, the first of Tishrei for years, shemittah and planting, and the fifteenth of Shevat for trees - and the day of judgment itself: on Rosh Hashanah all who come into the world pass before Him one by one.

The first two perakim are the masechta of the calendar. In the days of the Sanhedrin a month began by witnesses who saw the new moon, and the Gemara learns who could testify, how witnesses travelled even on Shabbos, how they were checked by the shapes of the moon Rabban Gamliel kept on a tablet, and how the news reached far cities by fires on the mountain tops and then by messengers. Here stands the episode of Rabban Gamliel and Rabbi Yehoshua, who came to him with his staff and money on the day that by his own count was Yom Kippur.

The third and fourth perakim learn the shofar: which horns may be used, the sound that must be heard and the kavanah of the one who hears it, the order of malchiyos, zichronos and shofaros in Mussaf, and how the blasts are blown. Rosh Hashanah also brings the three books opened on Rosh Hashanah - for the completely righteous, the completely wicked and those in between - and the thirteen middos of rachamim, with the promise that when Israel says them they do not return empty.

From the pages of Rosh Hashanah

On Rosh Hashanah Sarah, Rachel and Chanah were remembered; Hashem says 'say before Me malchiyos, so that you crown Me over you; zichronos, so that your remembrance comes before Me for good - and with what? with the shofar'; and four things tear up a hard decree: tzedakah, crying out, a change of name and a change of deeds.

This page holds 323 shiurim on Masechta Rosh Hashanah from 11 maggidei shiur; the most come from Rabbi Shlomo Yisraeli (114), Rabbi Eli Stefansky (58) and Rabbi YY Jacobson (32). 285 of them learn the whole daf and 38 are short reviews. 34 dafim have their own shiurim here, each in its own row above, and “Learn in the Daf Room” opens that daf with its text and its shiurim side by side.

Masechta Rosh Hashanah in the Daf Yomi

The 14th Daf Yomi cycle learned Masechta Rosh Hashanah one daf a day for 34 days, from daf 2 to daf 35, from October 11, 2021 to November 13, 2021; the 15th cycle, which opens with Berachos on June 8, 2027, reaches it on March 14, 2029. Masechta Rosh Hashanah is in Seder Moed, the second of the six orders of the Mishnah, and in the order of the Daf Yomi it comes after Masechta Beitzah and before Masechta Taanis. On each of those days the Daf Room opens the day's daf with its text and every shiur on it, and the rows above keep the shiurim of every daf of the masechta for anyone who learns at his own pace.

The perakim of Rosh Hashanah

Masechta Rosh Hashanah has four perakim, from daf 2a to daf 35a. Each perek below opens its first daf in the Daf Room, where the Gemara’s text and every shiur on that daf sit together.

1. Perek 1 ארבעה ראשי שנים 2a – 22a
2. Perek 2 אם אינן מכירין 22a – 25b
3. Perek 3 ראוהו בית דין 25b – 29b
4. Perek 4 יום טוב 29b – 35a